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MOSCOW, December 21 Specialists from the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR, Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region) commissioned a new site for the production of radioactive isotopes actinium-225, on the basis of which advanced means are created to combat malignant tumors and from which experts expect a revolution in nuclear medicine.
Actinium-225 (Ac-225) belongs to the so-called alpha emitters — radioactive isotopes that, during their decay, emit alpha particles, which make it possible to specifically kill tumor cells without damaging healthy tissue. Therefore, alpha emitters are often called “the future of nuclear medicine.”
Over recent years, targeted therapy using radiopharmaceuticals based on the actinium-225 radioisotope has demonstrated effectiveness and high potential in the treatment of inoperable metastatic forms of cancer.
“Today RIAR has become one of four producers of actinium-225 in the world, seriously strengthening Russian representation in the global nuclear medicine market. At the initial stage, our share will be about 10% of the total global production of this valuable radioisotope,” noted RIAR Director Alexander Tuzov, the words of which are given in the message of the Rosatom scientific division.
Previously, in Russia, the Ac-225 was produced by only one enterprise — the Leypunsky Institute of Physics and Energy (Obninsk, Kaluga region, also part of the scientific division of Rosatom «).
«In the near future we will complete activities to develop the technology, as a result of which an application will be submitted for a patent for the technology for manufacturing a radioactive drug based on actinium-225,» Tuzov added.
The State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation RIAR is the largest Russian research and experimental complex of nuclear energy. One of the main areas of work of RIAR is the creation of new production facilities for radionuclide drugs, including for nuclear medicine.